The amount of gravel mining that is ongoing in the Mad River
Valley watershed is concerning. It is acknowledged that a limited amount
of gravel mining was and is necessary to protect public infrastructure and
private property and to provide material to repair roads from recent flood
damage.

However, the ongoing extensive gravel mining that is
occurring appears to be because the governor “cut the red tape” and is allowing
for the uncontrolled and undocumented stockpiling of seemingly “free”
gravel. Unfortunately, when our governor gave carte blanche to our towns
he was obviously uninformed of the numerous and well-documented negative
physical and ecological effects of excessive gravel mining on streams.

Focusing here only on the physical impacts, removing large volumes of gravel
from a river generally tends to increase the instability of the river resulting
in increases in stream bank erosion and or deeper scouring of the
streambed. Furthermore, as floodplains allow for the slowing of
floodwaters, when we cut off the river's ability to access the floodplain by
digging deeper into the streams, we are causing an increase in depth and a
resultant increase in velocity that allows floodwaters greater power to erode
during the next flood event. The impacts of gravel mining can extend far
upstream and downstream of the actual gravel mining site. So, while we are
currently enjoying seemingly “free” gravel from the streams, we need to consider
the actual future cost to our towns and especially to our residents who live
and own property adjacent to our streams.